Well, we've had a productive few days. To start, we needed to work out a new template for the sides to accommodate the bevel. That took a lot of measuring and calculation
Once that was finally done, we could start thicknessing the sides and making sure the contour was correct before bending. We glued both the Brazilian and the Swiss spruce double sides together at the edges. Then we could start cutting it to shape. The final shape comes from a lot of careful sanding.
Then, while the sides were soaking in water and we were heating up the bending iron, we marked off the top after we thicknessed that to the thickness we need in the middle of the joined top (2.5 mm). Later, we will feather the thickness down to 2 mm at the edges of the joined top. We also roughly thicknessed the Brazilian and marked it off. The flash makes it look a lot lighter than it actually is.
Here you see the sides, fully soaked in water. We need all the help we can get when bending this 40-year-old, irreplaceable wood. Quite exciting and a little stressful.
Just look at all the steam coming off. Even though, due to be double sides, we were able to bring down the thickness of each individual board down quite a bit, it is still tricky to bend both sides at the same time. On the other hand, it is the only way to ensure that the curve in both sides will be the same. Because it gets really hot, we put a metal plate on the outside and use gloves.
Even though the sides have been submerged and fully soaked in water, after having it on the bending iron for a while, we need to soak the wood some more. Easy does it.
